Vote no’ on Question 2 on Nov. 6

Published Sunday September 30, 2012 at 6:00 am

“The Massachusetts Death with Dignity Act” is Question 2 on the Nov. 6 ballot. This is doctor-prescribed suicide presented by the former Hemlock Society, now called Compassion and Choices, attempting to bypass the state Legislature by presenting an oversimplified and deeply flawed ballot question. People given six months to live would be eligible to obtain a life-ending prescription without notifying next of kin, nor is a witness required when the lethal dose is administered. Also, the law allows the patient’s wish to end life can be communicated through “people familiar with the patient’s manner of communicating.” Over 90 percent of terminally ill patients suffer from treatable depression; yet no requirement is made to meet with a psychiatrist or professional trained to treat depression; merely meeting for a second consenting opinion from another physician, not required to be a psychiatrist.

Medical timelines are often inaccurate. Patients, especially elderly patients, given six months to live often survive for years.

In places which have adopted such laws, evidence suggests that the elderly, disabled and infirm are often pressured to kill themselves rather than become a burden on relatives, insurance companies or the state. Death certificates would be falsified as suicide cannot be listed as a cause of death. If passed, it will be legal in Massachusetts on Jan. 1, 2013.